High tin levels, is fluval water conditioner safe to use

seahuy · Jul 12, 2024

Hello I have high tin levels from my last ICP measured at 29um/l

The reference range is below 10

If found that phosguard is a recommended solution aside from WC

I figured that even with WC of 15% per week, my levels still wouldn’t get back down to < 10 until the 7th WC

I was just digging around and found Fluval Water Conditoner that’s safe for salt and fresh wayer

The label says it “neutralizes” heavy metals and safe to use in stocked aqairums

Some q/a I found:

When dosing this product during a partial water change, do I consider the entire volume of the aquarium or only the water changed?
At a minimum, dose for the amount of water changed, but there are no consequences to dosing more. We recommend adding this product directly to your replacement water before adding it to the tank.

Your fish are not in any danger, but we do recommend dosing the recommended amount in the future.

So my question: can this be used to “neutralize” my tin levels and is this safe for corals and inverts?

Formulator · Jul 12, 2024

I would recommend against this. You can’t remove anything by adding something. You just change its state and tin is relatively unreactive so I’m not sure what the conditioner is going to do to it. Maybe bind it to an organic, but if you aren’t running carbon, then you just have the organic-tin complex floating around until the organic decays and you’re back with tin again.

I honestly wouldn’t do anything. Just let it fall over time with water changes. Your levels aren’t high enough to be of any real urgent concern IMO.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 12, 2024

seahuy said:
Hello I have high tin levels from my last ICP measured at 29um/l

The reference range is below 10

If found that phosguard is a recommended solution aside from WC

I figured that even with WC of 15% per week, my levels still wouldn’t get back down to < 10 until the 7th WC

I was just digging around and found Fluval Water Conditoner that’s safe for salt and fresh wayer

The label says it “neutralizes” heavy metals and safe to use in stocked aqairums

Some q/a I found:

When dosing this product during a partial water change, do I consider the entire volume of the aquarium or only the water changed?
At a minimum, dose for the amount of water changed, but there are no consequences to dosing more. We recommend adding this product directly to your replacement water before adding it to the tank.

Your fish are not in any danger, but we do recommend dosing the recommended amount in the future.

So my question: can this be used to “neutralize” my tin levels and is this safe for corals and inverts?

I have not seen anyone report real issues from tin until the levels are significantly higher.

I’d try to track down and remove the source, but tin comes in many different chemical forms with different properties so I would not automatically assume that what lowered it for others will work for you.

I would not use a water conditioner. Perhaps removable binder might work, such as metasorb or polyfilter, but the tin form is unlikely to be a free metal.

seahuy · Jul 12, 2024

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley first off, I appreciate your contributions here a lot, i stay reading on your forum. I think I have removed the source but only time will tell after a few more ICPs unfortunately.

So heres my tin levels from ICP below. Somehow i wasnt able to edit my first post but doing a bit more research, looks like the main ingredients in water conditioner is Sodium Thiosulfate

Can sodium thiosulfate remove tin? my short google search led to tin can potentially be removed where its suppose to precipitate out of the soln?

Now im wondering if there's any other adverse effects where the risk is worth taking to help lower the levels. My SPS seems to be stalled out and im hoping to eliminate if my level of tin could be the source of problem.

From my understanding sodium thiosulfate removes chlorine/chloramine and results in higher ammonia levels? As for dose and concentration, i came across this blog https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-water-conditioners/ that suggest it's safe for fish at least at low dose? If im adding a low dose to my tank, with no chlorine/chloramine, then i shouldn't see the ammonia spike but what else could be effected?